Will Woods’s hat-trick set the seal on a dominant Southam away-day performance which crushed under-strength Old Wheatleyans 83-8.

Centre Woods received good support from Justin Urbonas, Flo Neale and Sam Bench, who all grabbed doubles, while Pete Burnell, Nathan Hooker, Liam Monro and Sam Deeming also crossed for the visitors, and skipper Will Grindal added nine conversions.

In the process, the Midlands Three South West leaders extended their unbeaten run to 12 games - a sequence which looked extremely unlikely when they lost three of their first four matches.

Wheats, who were missing half a dozen regulars, including skipper Ben Craig, top scorer Rich Drury and English Police representative James Rooke, battled hard throughout, but were over-powered by the confident, promotion-chasing visitors.

Hooker Sam Harcourt grabbed their first-half try and James Langton landed a penalty, while flanker Neil Saunders won plaudits from both teams for his tireless display.

Southam head coach Stuart Friswell said he was surprised by the margin of his team’s victory, which he credited to a combination of their improvement and Wheats weakened side.

“We didn’t expect it to be such a one-sided game,” he said. “I know Wheats coach Jon Fitt and a few of their players well, and we usually have a good tussle, but they were missing probably five or six of their better players.

“We scrummaged well, and I was really pleased with our running plays, where people worked really hard off the ball.

“A number of the things we are working on are improving each week, and although there is still more that I want to do, overall the boys played well.

“They always work hard for each other, but it came together a treat last weekend, and we had four tries after 15 minutes.

“All credit to Old Wheats, they scored a good try in the first half, were pushing hard for another one at the end of the game and never gave up.”

Southam raced to the try bonus point with a flurry of early scores.

No.8 Neale set them on the way with a scrum push-over, before full back Burnell strolled over following a nice Harry Hewson miss-pass.

The visitors No.15 then turned creator, to send winger Hooker over after his pack pinched an Old Wheats lineout, and after Langton’s penalty put the hosts on the board, Neale’s second scrum push-over clinched the bonus point.

Flankers Urbonas and Monro combined effectively to send the latter in, then Woods out-paced the cover for his second score.

Scrum half Dodds side-stepped past four defenders to race in from halfway for a brilliant solo score, before a well-executed Wheats’ driving lineout enabled Harcourt to power over.

The visitors claimed their eighth try of a prolific half through Deeming, then repeated the performance immediately from the second-period restart thanks to Urbonas.

Bench’s score took the try count into double figures, then a neat show-and-go enabled Woods to add his second. His hat-trick soon followed, after Urbonas had claimed his second, before Bench’s second and Southam’s 13th try rounded things off.

The top of the table remains congested, as five points separate the top four clubs and only two promotion spots available. Evesham and Rugby Lions have a game in hand on the leaders and fourth-placed Ledbury, and the meeting between Southam and Rugby Lions at Webb Ellis Road on March 5th is the next major ring in the calendar.

Old Wheatleyans v Southam. Norman Place Road, Coundon, Coventry.

Looking ahead, Friswell says a couple of crucial matches look likely to determine whether his club’s promotion ambitions are met, and that the long unbeaten run, which stretches back to October, has built confidence.

“We haven’t lost since October,” he says, “so people are keen to play, which really helps, we have competition across the board, and a good team spirit.

“It’s really tight at the top, and although Evesham and Rugby Lions have games in hand on us, we still have to play them both.

“At this stage if you want to go up every game is crucial, it’s a tough league, and there are lots of ups and downs, but hopefully this can be our year.”